The Insider: Daily Terrorism Report

A car bomb exploded today outside a police headquarters in a crowded district of Baghdad, killing at least 47 people and wounding more than 90, news wires reported.

And the nation's only Sept. 11-related case moved closer to trial, with an appellate ruling that reaffirmed the government's right to seek Zacarias Moussaoui's execution but protected his access to favorable statements from al-Qaida leaders, the Associated Press reported.

IRAQ NEWS

Car Bomb Kills At Least 47 At A Police Headquarters In Baghdad

A car bomb exploded today outside a police headquarters in a crowded district of Baghdad, killing at least 47 people and wounding more than 90, an Interior Ministry official said. (NY Times)

U.S. Attacks An Iraqi City With Double-Edged Sword

Unable to enter the rebel-held city of Fallouja, U.S. forces have turned to airstrikes, the latest coming Monday. The U.S. claimed success, but images of reported civilian casualties threatened to further enrage Iraq's Sunni Muslim population. (LA Times)

U.S. Troops Face New Torture Claims

Allegations that American soldiers routinely tortured and maltreated detainees have emerged from a third Iraqi city, renewing fears that abuse similar to that inflicted in Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad has been systematic and widespread. (Guardian)

240 Abu Ghraib Inmates Released

U.S. authorities freed some 240 inmates from the notorious Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad to waiting relatives today, amid continuing tension over the abuse of prisoners by military guards. (AFP)

Turkey Warns Us On Northern Iraq

Turkey says it will end co-operation with the US in Iraq if the Americans continue with their offensive in the northern Iraqi town of Talafar. (BBC)

Northern Pipeline Blown Up In Iraq

A multiple oil pipeline in northern Iraq has been blown up by saboteurs. Aljazeera learnt oil pipelines in the Fatha area linking Biji and Kirkuk refineries to the Turkish Jihan oilfield came under attack on Tuesday. (Al Jazeera)

Al Jazeera Shows Tape of Jordan Trucker

The Arab television network Al Jazeera broadcast footage Tuesday of a Jordanian truck driver taken hostage in Iraq. The footage showed three masked men standing behind the kneeling hostage, who held his passport in front of him. (AP)

Italy Envoy Aims To Free 2 Hostages In Iraq

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini of Italy appealed for a "civilized dialogue" between religions as he stood inside Kuwait's Grand Mosque at the start of a Middle East visit he hopes will help win the release of two Italian women kidnapped in Iraq. (AP)

Howard Vows Not To Bow To Iraqi Militants

Prime Minister John Howard said Tuesday that he would not withdraw troops from Iraq as demanded by militants who claim to have taken two Australians hostage and threatened to execute them within 24 hours. (AP)

THE WAR ON TERROR

LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS

Moussaoui Case Takes Step Toward Trial

The nation's only Sept. 11-related case moved closer to trial, with an appellate ruling that reaffirmed the government's right to seek Zacarias Moussaoui's execution but protected his access to favorable statements from al-Qaida leaders. (AP)

Court Denies Guantanamo Witnesses

The only man charged in the US over the 11 September attacks has been barred from calling as witnesses people held at the US Guantanamo Bay prison camp. (BBC)

The Justice Department has launched two internal investigations into the arrest of Oregon lawyer Brandon Mayfield, who was detained by the FBI earlier this year because of a faulty fingerprint analysis that wrongly linked him to the deadly terrorist bombings in Madrid, according to a report released yesterday. (Washington Post)

INVESTIGATIONS

Russia
Opponents Call Putin's Overhaul Plan A Step Back

President Vladimir V. Putin ordered a stunning overhaul of Russia's political system on Monday in what he called an effort to unite the country against terrorism. If enacted, as expected, the proposals would strengthen his already pervasive control over the legislative branch and regional governments. (NY Times)

Russia Boosts Funds For Security

Russia is to invest more than $5bn extra in its security services to help combat terrorism. (BBC)

AP: Israel Sends Experts To Help Russia

Israel has sent intelligence officers to Russia and is hosting at least two senior Russian officers in Tel Aviv —quietly moving to upgrade anti-terror cooperation with Moscow in the wake of a series of devastating attacks in Russia, officials told The Associated Press. (USA Today)

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said yesterday that at the time he made the case to the United Nations for the invasion of Iraq some US intelligence officials already knew many of the claims about weapons and terrorist ties were suspect, but they had not informed him or other senior policy makers about their doubts. (Boston Globe)

Iran

Elbaradei Says Unclear If Iran Nuke Plans Peaceful

It is unclear if Iran's nuclear ambitions are entirely peaceful, but there is still no firm evidence that Tehran is secretly developing atomic weapons as Washington asserts, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Afghanistan

UN, Aid Agencies Pull Staff From Herat After Deadly Rioting

The United Nations and several nongovernmental aid agencies withdrew staff from the troubled Afghan city of Herat yesterday after their offices were targeted in deadly rioting. More than 60 workers were relocated after demonstrators attacked aid offices on Sunday in protest at the sacking of longtime Governor Ismail Khan. Four people died and more than 50 were injured. (Arab News)

The new governor of Herat, Sayed Muhammad Khairkhwa, spent Monday, his first day at work, ensconced at the top of the hill in the city's finest guesthouse, surrounded by American troops with maps and satellite dishes and dozens of Afghan National Army soldiers. (NY Times)

Indonesia

Indonesia Bomb Investigation Finds New Evidence

Investigators in Indonesia have found significant new evidence in the search for those responsible for last Thursday's deadly bombing near the Australian embassy. Diplomats and intelligence agencies are worried that the bombers might strike again if they are not caught soon. Five days after a deadly car bomb exploded on a busy Jakarta street near the Australian embassy, investigators have found part of a man's head that they believe might have belonged to a suicide bomber. The discovery, on the fifth floor of a neighboring office building, could help investigators make a positive identification. (Voice of America)

Parents Blessed Bomber Sons: Police

Indonesian police say the parents of three men who they believe were involved in the suicide attack on the Australian embassy blessed their sons in the months before last Thursday's attack. Suicide letters the young men had written were "like a will" and were to inform their families they were prepared to die. (The Age)

Head of Bomber Found In Building

Most of a severed head that probably belonged to a suicide bomber was found late yesterday afternoon on the fifth floor of an office building next door to the Australian embassy in Jakarta. The partial head, which included the scalp and most of the face, was found in the Menara Gracia building, Indonesian forensic investigators said on condition of anonymity. (News Interactive)

Latham On the Warpath

After the Jakarta bombing last week, Mark Latham's first response was to denounce the terrorists as "evil and barbaric" —the sort of language that might have been used by Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush or John Howard. He said the terrorists "must be dealt with as harshly as possible" and that Labor will take whatever action is needed to "to win the war against terror". (The Australian)

China

Troops Sent To Protect China Dam

China is reported to have sent heavily armed troops to protect its huge Three Gorges Dam against terrorist attack. (BBC)

Belgium

Belgian Terror Suspect Admits Al Qaeda Link

A man standing trial in Belgium on terrorism related activities on Tuesday admitted that he acted as a link between al Qaeda leaders in Italy and Pakistan and supporters of Osama Bin Laden's network here. Saber Mohammed is one of ten men currently on trial in Brussels for allegedly helping terrorist organizations. (Expatica)

ANALYSIS & OPINION

Saddam Hussein Revisited

As the campaign debate over Iraq intensifies, one key element is missing: the figure of Saddam Hussein. It's hard to imagine now why the United States went to war against the disheveled tramp who was found cowering in a bunker in December. (Washington Post)

Analysis: Tensions Over Northern Iraq

Not for the first time, events in Iraq are straining relations between two traditionally close allies, Turkey and the United States. (BBC)

Al Qaeda Efforts Backfiring: Expert

Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda group has failed miserably in its political aims, leaving behind a trail of freelance terror and chaos that is backfiring on the Muslim world, according to French expert Gilles Kepel. (Arab News)

Three Years On, Violence Drives the Global Agenda

Many around the world have paused in the past few days to remember those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In the U.S. and the Mideast during the last three years, debate has continued unabated on the nature, causes and aims of the terror of Sept. 11. Yet, the terror phenomenon seems to have expanded its geographical reach in those three years, despite the determined "war against terror" that is being led by the United States. (Daily Star —Lebanon)

Let's Get It Right

There is no evidence so far to connect the blast with the Al Qaeda or with the observance of the third anniversary of 9/11 or the forthcoming Presidential elections in Indonesia or the parliamentary elections in Australia. (Outlook India)

Iraq: Free For All

The West must open its eyes to the reality of life and death in Iraq, Nermeen Al-Mufti writes from Baghdad When President George W Bush declared the end of "major operations" in Iraq on 1 May 2003, he said that the world has become a safer place for America. Since then, Bush, his allies, secretaries, and commanders, have repeated the claim that the world has become safer for America; that 9/11 will not happen again. But the war on terror has to continue, Bush promises. (Al Ahram Weekly —Egypt)

The Insider Daily Terrorism Report (DTR) is a summary of major news articles and broadcasts relating to international terrorism and developments in Iraq. The DTR is edited daily from foreign and U.S. sources by Chris Isham, Hoda Osman, and Brinda Adhikari of the ABCNEWS Investigative Unit. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ABCNEWS.